URBANA, Ill. – The 2021 Virtual Crop Scout School available and free to the general public. The Scout School, offered through the Crop Protection Network, consists of 22 webinars from crop protection specialists at 11 Midwest universities.
Crop scouts, farmers, and other users can pick and choose from a variety of diverse subjects to help them become more knowledgeable on crop scouting. Topics are split into digestible bits so crop scouts can interact with subject matter in a way that best suits their time and interest.
Crop scouting in an important part of integrated pest management IPM that can help farmers obtain higher yields and increased profit per acre. Scouting gives farmers and agronomists a heads-up about what is happening in the field, allowing preemptive action and appropriate management decisions to be applied. The field scout gathers information on the crop condition of a field that can help in discerning what management tools to use.
Illinois authors include Chelsea Harbach, University of Illinois Extension commercial ag educator at the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Center, and Nicholas Seiter, Illinois Extension field crops entomology specialist.
“The Virtual Crop Scout School is coming on the heels of a web book on crop scouting released by CPN earlier this year,” said Daren Mueller, Extension associate professor at Iowa State University. “Crop scouting can do a lot to bring greater yields to farm fields.”
CPN has partnered with Midwest universities to create the webinar series. CPN is a multi-state and international partnership of university and provincial Extension specialists, and public and private professionals that provides unbiased, research-based information. This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the North Central IPM Center. CPN’s goal is to communicate relevant information to farmers and agricultural personnel to help with decisions related to protecting field crops
Access the webinar series at: https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/virtual-crop-scout-school.
SOURCE: Chelsea Harbach, University of Illinois Extension Commercial Ag Educator.
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